What Makes a Marriage Great

Here in Florida, it rains pretty often, but it usually lasts for about 10 minutes and then it’s gone. Today, however, God sovereignly chose to allow this storm to stay on us all day long.

Now, I hope you don’t read that as a complaint. On the contrary, I am on cloud 9. I love the rain. I love the smell of wet dirt. I love to hear the grumbling of the thunder and the crashing sound of raindrops hitting the ground. I’m in heaven. A rainy day often brings with it, solitude and contemplation. It’s an invitation to reflect on whatever is nudging you inside. And today, the day before my birthday, I’m reflecting on marriage.

I’m explicitly reflecting on what makes a marriage GREAT. Now, before we talk about this, I want to squash any idea that there is such a thing as a “perfect” marriage. That’s a unicorn, and it doesn’t exist.

All marriages have high “highs” and low “lows.”

When it comes to marriage, you should let go of the idea of having a perfect one. However, I believe with all my heart that you can and should hold on to the hope of having a great marriage.

Marriage is such a cool thing because we didn’t come up with it. God did. As much as people want to have marriages their way and as much as they try to come up with ideas to “improve” relationships, I think that God still holds all the answers when it comes to this subject.

I believe that, just in like everything else, the answer is in Christ.

I rate marriages on how connected they are with the calling of God for their family. In other words, how well are they serving the Lord and how close are they with Jesus.

I know that, in our society, that is probably the least of their concerns. I know that, how good you look on a picture together, is way higher in the list of priorities or concerns.

But the reality is that the divorce rate is still alarming. So many people that say “I do” to forever, end up saying “I won’t” shortly after the wedding.

I firmly believe that the main reason is that they aren’t connected to the calling of God for their families.

Now, when I see a couple that understands their family’s purpose, I see they work as a team, I see them make sacrifices, I know that they forgive quickly, they submit to each other.

Why? Because they see the bigger picture, so the small stuff doesn’t matter as much.

Because when you know that your family is going to reach and change thousands of people for God’s kingdom, then you forgive your husband quickly for not behaving in the way you expected him too. You choose not to pick up that fight right before a critical family moment. You decide to work things out and put your pride aside for the sake of the gospel.

When Jerrod lets me down, I remember why I married him and all that is at stake if we fail each other. For us, we believe God will use us to bring Heaven on Earth and that we will touch many people and nations. We knew this since we were engaged and when we said’ ” I do,” we knew the sacrifices that it would take.

So in the times I have felt like we’ve gotten to the end of our marriage, God has picked us up, restored and repaired our lives and helped us get back on track better than before.

I always tell God, that since He told me to marry Jerrod, He needs to deal with him as his son. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:12, ” And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

What makes a marriage great is having a “third strand” involved at all times.

What makes a marriage great is loving God MORE than you love your spouse or yourself. It’s surrendering your expectations to the Lord and trusting in His process for your life.

That’s it from me today, sweet friend. I hope this encouraged you and blessed you.

If you liked this post and want to join this beautiful family, make sure to subscribe below and If you would like to be part of this conversation, please leave me a comment and tell me what do you think makes a marriage great?

You are so loved,

Pao.

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